Letter of the Week – “The best one from you guys that I’ve bought is easily Wish You Were Here.”

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Pink Floyd Available Now

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

Hey Tom, 

I’ve bought several LPs from you guys and have been exceptionally impressed. The eponymous Dire Straits plus Breakfast in America arrived yesterday, and are excellent.

The best one from you guys that I’ve bought is easily Wish You Were Here. That is an album meant to be played at full volume from start to finish, loving every minute. 

Keep up the good work! 

Anyway, thanks from a very satisfied customer.

Dear Sir,

Thanks, glad to see you liked all three as much as we did.

We love pointing out that the Shootout Winning copies of Wish You Were Here are not originals, and not pressed in the U.K., contrary to the conventional wisdom espoused by audiophiles and record collectors the world over, and with great confidence no less.

We used to think those were the best too, but years ago we took a chance and bought some other pressings we had heard might be good. Sure enough they beat the best Brits we had ever played. That doesn’t happen very often, almost never in fact, but it definitely happened in this case.

Who knew? Not us, and even we only learned of the best pressings about ten years ago.

And nobody who writes about records to this day is aware of these very special pressings as far as we know.

(more…)

Vivaldi / Concertos for Harpsichord, Guitar, Harp and Violin

Hot Stamper Pressings of Mercury Recordings Available Now

Near Demo quality and a true Mercury sleeper.*

These concertos have excellent sound and the music is very enjoyable.

Sleepers

*A “sleeper” is an exceptional record that is not well known to most audiophiles and collectors.

Discovering these amazing titles by conducting thousands of auditions and shootouts has been a great source of joy for those of us who work here at Better Records. We proudly offer them to music lovers who prize top quality sound over collectibility, rarity and other such extra-musical qualities.

Like our other Hot Stamper pressings, their only real value is in their superior sound and music.

This is an older classical/orchestral review.

Most of the older reviews you see are for records that did not go through the shootout process, the revolutionary approach to finding better sounding pressings we developed in the early 2000s and have since turned into a full-time practice for our staff of ten.

We found the records you see in these older listings by cleaning and playing a pressing or two of the album, which we then described and priced based on how good the sound and surfaces were. (For Hot Stamper listings, the sonic grades and vinyl playgrades are listed separately.)

(more…)

Suzanne Vega – Self-Titled

More Rock and Pop

  • Suzanne’s debut LP appears on the site for the first time ever, here with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish
  • Both sides are big, rich and sweet with wonderfully present and breathy vocals, excellent clarity and a plenty of bottom end weight
  • Remarkably present, real and resolving, this pressing is guaranteed to murder any remastering undertaken by anyone – past, present and future
  • 4 stars: “Though early comparisons were made to Joni Mitchell, Suzanne Vega’s true antecedents were Janis Ian and Leonard Cohen. Like Ian, she sings with a precise, frequently half-spoken phrasing that gives her lyrics an intensity that seems to suggest an unsteady control consciously held over emotional chaos. Like Cohen, Vega observes the world in poetic metaphor, her cold urban landscapes reflecting a troubled sense of love and loss.”

(more…)

Turntable Setup Guide Part 2: Dialing In Tracking Force By Ear

Robert Brook runs a blog called The Broken Record, with a subtitle explaining that the aim of his blog is to serve as:

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

We know of none better, outside of our own humble attempt to enlighten that portion of the audiophile community who love hearing music reproduced with the highest fidelity and are willing to go the extra mile to make that happen.

Below you will find a link to an article about turntable setup. I would have loved to write something along these lines myself, but never found the time to do it. Robert Brook took the job upon himself and has explained many aspects of it well, so if you would like to learn more about turntable setup, I encourage you to visit his blog and read more about it.

I do have some ideas of my own which I hope to be able to write about soon, but for now, check out what Robert has to say.

Turntable Setup Part 2: What To Do For EXCELLENT SOUND

(more…)

Jeff Beck – Truth

More of the Music of Jeff Beck

  • A vintage reissue pressing of Beck’s debut LP with two killer Nearly Triple Plus (A++ to A+++) sides, just shy of our Shootout Winner – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • Easily – and by a wide margin – the best sounding record Jeff Beck ever made – thanks, Ken Scott!
  • This pressing embodies the “big rock sound” that we go crazy for here at Better Records
  • Really fun music – it’s a blast to hear Rod Stewart fronting such a heavy rock band
  • Problems in the vinyl are sometimes the nature of the beast with these Classic Rock records – there simply is no way around them if the superior sound of vintage analog is important to you
  • 5 stars: “…almost as groundbreaking and influential a record as the first Beatles, Rolling Stones, or Who albums.”

These Nearly White Hot Stamper pressings have top-quality sound that’s often surprisingly close to our White Hots, but they sell at substantial discounts to our Shootout Winners, making them a relative bargain in the world of Hot Stampers (“relative” meaning relative considering the prices we charge). We feel you get what you pay for here at Better Records, and if ever you don’t agree, please feel free to return the record for a full refund, no questions asked.

(more…)

Fleetwood Mac – Self-Titled

More of the Music of Fleetwood Mac

  • This vintage copy of the band’s self-titled release boasts very good Hot Stamper sound from start to finish – exceptionally quiet vinyl too
  • It’s richer and fuller than the average copy, with notably more presence, and that will be especially true when you compare it to whatever godawful Heavy Vinyl pressing may be currently available
  • This is true of even our lowest-priced, lowest-graded copies – they are guaranteed to sound much better than any pressing you can find on the market today, as well as any pressing you may already own
  • A Rock and Pop Top 100 title – their best recording bar none
  • 5 stars: “Fleetwood Mac is a blockbuster album that isn’t dominated by its hit singles, and its album tracks demonstrate a depth of both songwriting and musicality that would blossom fully on Rumours.”

Until we started doing these shootouts, I had no idea this album was recorded so well. There are layers and layers of subtle instrumental textures and recording effects throughout this album that I never even knew were there.

We wish more copies in our shootout had that “jump out of the speakers” sound we knew was possible from our previous shootouts of the album. When finally one did, boy did it ever. 

Many of the notes you see below are the same as the ones we made for the last two shootouts we did. If you have a big speaker system and have taken advantage of the audio revolutions we discuss throughout the site, this is the kind of record that can help you chart your progress. When a record like this blows everything you’ve ever heard out of the water, you are definitely on the right track.

(more…)

What to Listen For on Ancient Dances and Airs for Lute

Hot Stamper Pressings of Mercury Recordings Available Now

UPDATE 2024

In 2024 I would no longer agree with what I wrote below about Mercury being inferior to London and RCA. Many Mercury pressings are amazing, now that we can reproduce them with greater fidelity.

Here are some of the best we’ve heard, and we hope to be able to highlight the sonic strengths of many more in the future.

The complete list of amazing sounding orchestral pressings for which we have posted our shootout notes can be found here.

When we listed this Mercury back in 2010 or so we still had a lot to learn, and we don’t mind admitting it.

Both sides of this TAS List early Colorback RFR copy of Ancient Airs and Dances have Hot Stamper sound, so much richer and sweeter and less strident than the typical copy you might find.

I must admit the Mercury approach to sound has not worn as well as I might have hoped. When it comes to the Big Three from the Golden Age, these days we prefer London, followed by RCA, then Mercury.

(more…)

Diamond Head Is a Truly Awesome Feat of Engineering by Rhett Davies

Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Phil Manzanera Available Now

You may recall reading this bit about Rhett Davies‘ superb engineering on Dire Straits’ debut:

“…until something better comes along, this is his Masterpiece.

It has to be one of the best sounding rock records ever made, with Tubey Magical mids, prodigious bass, transparency and freedom from hi-fi-ishness and distortion like few rock recordings you have ever heard.”

Well, something better has now come along, and it’s called Diamond Head.

It has some of the biggest, boldest sound we have ever heard. Diamond Head isn’t known as an audiophile album but it should be — the sound is glorious — wall to wall, floor to ceiling, and as rich and dynamic as it gets.

It’s clearly a big speaker Demo Disc. Play this one as loud as you can. The louder you play it, the better it sounds.

The best copies have room shaking deep bass with the kind of whomp that can drive this music to practically unexplored heights.

(more…)

Michael McDonald / If That’s What It Takes – His Masterpiece of Blue-Eyed Soul

More Blue Eyed Soul

  • An original Warner Bros. pressing with very good Hot Stamper sound from start to finish
  • One of the All Time Great Jeff Porcaro Drum Exhibition Records (with the equally amazing Steve Gadd handling the other tracks)
  • Some of the best Pop Rock engineering of all time, courtesy of Lee Herschberg and Donn Landee
  • 4 1/2 stars on AllMusic – more importantly, this is a dramatically better album than anything the Doobies ever released

I’m proud to count Michael McDonald among my favorite recording artists. He made this Desert Island Disc and single-handedly turned the Doobie Brothers into a band I could enjoy and even respect. This is a Must Own if you like the later Doobies, and the kind of highly-polished but heartfelt and intelligent pop records the major labels excelled at in the 70s.

With the right pressing, the highs open up and his vocals jump out of the speakers. He’s right there. The next step is to check to see if you have punchy, well-defined bass, a key element in this rhythmically complex music. With plenty of presence in the vocals and punch down below, you have a copy that can hold its head high, with sound that really brings this music to life.

(more…)

Neil Young / Self-Titled

More of the Music of Neil Young

  • Here is a vintage Reprise pressing of Neil’s solo debut with solid Double Plus (A++) grades from start to finish
  • Both sides are rich, full and Tubey Magical with a big bottom end and excellent resolution
  • Surely one of Neil’s toughest to find with top quality sonics – and only certain early pressings have the potential to sound as good as this one does, a subject we discuss on the blog in some detail
  • “…a flowing tributary from the over-all Springfield river of twangs, breathless vocals and slim yet stout instrumentation. Especially vivid is Young’s sense of melancholy and the ingenious clusters of images he employs in his lyrics (printed in full).” – Rolling Stone

(more…)